International

HONOLULU: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday he did not see any indication Hamas was planning any attack on U.S. troops in Gaza but added adequate measures were being put in place for the safety of military personnel. “I don’t discuss intelligence information at the podium. But I don’t see any indications currently that there is an active …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan Thursday told the UN General Assembly that India was targeting Indian Muslims, Christians, as also Muslims of occupied Kashmir, and called for an end to their harsh suppression. “Since the BJP-RSS government assumed office in 2014, hate, oppression, and violence against India’s 200 million Muslims – and other minorities, Christians and the ‘lower-caste’ Dalits – have become …

Britain’s ruling Conservatives lost a parliamentary seat to the main Labour opposition Friday, as the country awaited local election results likely to pile more pressure on embattled leader Rishi Sunak. Labour seized the constituency of Blackpool South, in the northwest of England, in the latest by-election defeat for the Tories as it appears on course to lose an upcoming general …

WASHINGTON/DUBAI: The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are finalizing an agreement for US security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East “grand bargain” remains elusive, according to seven people familiar with the matter. A working draft lays out principles and proposals aimed at putting back on track a US-led …

COCULLO: Snakes are the highlight of an ancient religious procession held every May 1 that attracts thousands of visitors to a mountainous village in central Italy. Every year, villagers wrap a statue of Abbot Saint Dominic in snakes in the weeks leading up to the procession, before carrying it from the church and down Cocullo’s narrow streets. Abbot Dominic (951-1031), …

ISTANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that Turkiye would join in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). “Upon completion of the legal text of our work, we will submit the declaration of official intervention before the ICJ with the objective of implementing this political decision,” Fidan said in a joint …

BEIJING: China’s Fujian aircraft carrier took to the water for maiden sea trials on Wednesday, state media said, a key next step in a vast naval build-up by Beijing as it carves out a more assertive role for itself in the Pacific and beyond. The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier after the Liaoning and the Shandong vessels and is …

JAKARTA: Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, officials said on Wed­nesday, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears. Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash more than five kilometres (three miles) into the sky and forcing authorities …

GENEVA: Gaza stands filled with more debris and rubble than Ukraine, the UN stated on Wednesday. The mammoth task of clearing it has been made all the more costly and dangerous in the face of the sheer amount of asbestos and unexploded ordnance. Six months into the Israeli aggression, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has estimated the amount …

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday efforts underway to forge a normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab countries will not resolve the crisis in the Middle East. “Some people think that by forcing neighbouring countries to normalise their ties (with Israel) the problem will be solved,” said Khamenei. “They are wrong.” Khamenei’s remarks came after …